Wall St soars as FBI clears Hillary Clinton of email wrongdoing

08/11/2016

Hillary Clinton at the St Louis debate (Getty)

US stocks soared in opening trade as US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's prospects got a boost a day ahead of the election after the FBI said it would not press criminal charges related to her use of a private email server.

Wall Street closed lower for nine days in a row through to Friday, their longest losing streak in more than 35 years and one that gained momentum after the FBI said on October 28 that it was reviewing some newly found emails Clinton sent using a private server during her tenure as secretary of state.

The FBI said on Sunday that it would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton, standing by its July finding that she was not guilty of criminal wrongdoing.

At least three polls on Monday showed Democrat nominee Clinton was in the lead over Republican Donald Trump.

"Investors are reacting this morning to moving the email controversy to the side-lines, but still looking at a race that is too close to call, said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Equity Capital Markets in New York.

"It's a market that is going to scrape back some losses we've seen over the last nine days and shift into stall mode at some point in time."

In early trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 243.05 points, or 1.36 percent, at 18,131.33. All 30 Dow components were higher.

The S&P 500 was up 28.53 points, or 1.37 percent, at 2113.71. Only four of the benchmark's components were in the red.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 77.15 points, or 1.53 percent, at 5,123.52.

Investors have tended to see Clinton as a more status quo candidate and expect her victory to clear the path for a US interest rate hike next month. On the other hand, Trump's stance on foreign policy, trade and immigration has unnerved the market.

Global markets rose following the FBI's announcement. The CBOE Volatility index, dubbed Wall Street's "fear gauge", was down 14.6 percent, on pace for its biggest one-day fall since September 21.

All of the 11 major S&P 500 indexes were higher, with the technology index leading the pack with a 1.6 percent rise. The defensive utilities sector brought up the rear with a 0.26 percent gain.

Risk assets were back in favour, with Brent crude futures rising for the first time in seven days, also helped by OPEC's commitment to stick to a deal to cut output.

The dollar rose for the first time in five days, while safe-haven gold was set for its worst day in more than one month.

US-listed iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF rose 3.8 percent. The ETF, known as "Trump ETF", is viewed as a barometer for Trump's chances of winning the election since his proposed policies are considered deeply negative for Mexico.